A doll in progress...

I've been working on a doll, among other beading projects now for over a month.



Normally, it doesn't take me this long, but with the holidays and all the time spent on those activities - I've been a bit stalled.



We have visitors on their way here for Christmas too, so I can't shirk my house cleaning chores to bead like I would normally on a cold icy weekend. That's okay though, I'm enjoying baking and making things ready for our guests. I like to bake for the holidays - so having the wonderful smell of baked goodies fill the house is a welcomed bonus.



Here are the baked goods on the menu (so far) - Lemon Bread, Cranberry Pumpkin Bread, Banana Snack Cake, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake and Fudge (okay that's not baked, but I will be in the kitchen). Lots to do this weekend!



I wanted to share some teaser shots of the doll in progress. Those are the photos you find added throughout this post.



I hope to have her done soon and then will be able to get back to my Bead Journal Project, I need to work on November and December and while I'm a little late on them I do have ideas of what I want to do and don't imagine it will take much time once I can sit and focus just on them.



Then there is the weather... the ice is still here and the limbs that were dragging, but not broken yesterday are showing more stress today. And we have a new weather warning for tomorrow. Let's hope the weather 'people' are being a bit dramatic,

Here is what I received in my email:
THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN N. IN HAS ISSUED A WIND CHILL ADVISORY.WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM EST /12 PM CST/ SUN TO 1 PM EST /12 PM CST/ MONDAY.

A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL BLAST INTO THE REGION TONIGHT & SUNDAY BRINGING A SHOT OF ARCTIC AIR. BY LATE SUN AFTERNOON TEMPS WILL LIKELY BE IN THE SINGLE DIGITS ABOVE ZERO IN MANY LOCATIONS WITH OVERNIGHT LOWS SUN NIGHT AWAY FROM LAKE MI RANGING FROM ZERO TO POSSIBLY AS COLD AS 5 BELOW ZERO. THIS COMBINED WITH WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS WILL ALLOW FOR WIND CHILLS OF 15 TO 25 BELOW ZERO.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR & STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE WIND CHILLS IN THE 15 TO 25 BELOW ZERO RANGE. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE & LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. IF YOU MUST VENTURE OUTDOORS.MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT & GLOVES.

So - at least I'll have NO reason to go outside and begin the needed clean up of the downed limbs and branches. Not yet anyway!

Wishing you a warm and safe weekend wherever you live!

Ice - ing

Oh boy... Old Man Winter stopped in for a visit and boy is he ever cranky! He left a BIG mess behind.


I went to bed last night knowing there was an ice storm warning, we already had some snow on the ground but it was supposed to warm up just enough for a freezing rain. Being from California, 'weather' here scares me at times. We've had the power go out here before when it's been cold and it can get quite uncomfortable. I was hoping the weather folks were being overly cautious. I guess what really scared me is when I received an email from the Red Cross asking for volunteers to be ready to report. We have weather warnings here of many different flavors depending on the time of year - I had never received a notification from the Red Cross to be ready.


So, I got up early - before sunrise. There were odd sounds coming from outside as well as from the house itself - it sounded as though is was moaning. I peeked out the windows, and even in the dark I could see the outline of the tree limbs - all hanging quite a bit lower than expected.


Nature is an amazing and scary thing. Everything encased in ice is incredibly beautiful. I could hardly wait for the sun to rise.


We have very large, old trees in both the front and back yards - it makes for a beautiful and rather nerve racking experience when I stand outside and listen to the sounds... the wind blowing through the ice covered limbs, straining under the weight of the ice, then cracking and sometimes falling to the ground with a thud.



We had the power go out and come back on several times and I'm thankful that it stayed on - so far anyway.



We lost many tree limbs and there are 2 trees that we may not be able to save (pictured directly above and below). The clean up should keep us busy for a good bit of time.



I ended up calling the local policy/fire department because of this one tree - it looks like it split from the top and fell forward toward the street. Right on top of the line that runs between the light posts. The posts are now leaning toward one another and I hope they don't collapse. Can you see the line running through the middle of the tree in the above photo?



I figure the city/county must be busy, it's been quite a few hours since we called and they still have not made it out here.


Everything is still encrusted in ice - it never did warm up enough to melt much. It'll be interesting to see what tomorrow holds.


For those of you that have never seen or been in an ice storm - these photos might look fairly innocuous. To give you an idea of just what happens - I found a photo I snapped last winter of one side of the house (below) see how pretty a nice bit of snow looks?


Now here you can see what ice accumulation does to the very same trees. Click on each to get the enlarged view.


Here are some other shots from around the house...


This is a giant wasp nest - it usually sits quite high in the tree, but was brought down to eye level with the weight of the ice, so I was able to get a decent shot of it.

The clothesline


The top of a flower pot holder


Little Japanese Maple


And my neighbors yard